Let me first express my sincere thanks to the organizers of the event for giving me an opportunity to address such an august gathering. I am sure that you are aware that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises better known as MSME is the backbone of Indian Economy. Nevertheless, let me begin with a few data set to focus the attention on the importance of this sector to the Indian economy. I am using the data presented in a report — Fastening MSME’s Fortunes — prepared by well-known rating agency CRISIL in January 2020 for ASSOCHAM. Globally benchmarked consultants such as KPMG and Ernst Young (E&Y) has also held studies on the Indian MSME sector for industry chambers such as FICCI and CII respectively.
The Crisil report which I have mentioned has stated that the MSME “sector comprises a whopping 90% of the total number of enterprises in the country, which account for around 60% of its jobs and almost half of its exports”. As per CRISIL estimates, the MSME lending book was expected to close the financial year ending March 2020 at Rs 19 lakh crore, or 28% of corporate credit in the country.
No wonder that Government of India has placed maximum attention on the MSME for its ambitious target of making India a $-5 trillion economy by 2024. The government has identified MSME as a key sector in achieving the $-5 trillion target. The government target to enhance the share of MSME in the country’s GDP to be 50 percent from the current levels of 30 percent to achieve the $-5 trillion target by 2024. In short, MSME offers a great opportunity for rapid expansion and growth.
Friends, I have given you some basic ideas about the MSME sector in the country. Now let me draw your attention to the issue of Public Relations and Communication. PR and Communication is one of the greatest problem areas confronting the MSME sector in the country. I would like to term it as a communication deficit. Despite playing such a robust and critical role in the economic life of the country the MSME sector has not received the attention it deserves in the media or amongst policymakers. Lack of communication is one of the major reasons for such deficit.
The image of MSME in the media, unfortunately, is that of an entity waiting for some kind of largesse or help from the government. A change of perception and mindset is the immediate requirement for the MSME sector and that calls for developing a well-conceived and sustainable communication module. The uneven growth, regional disparities, identifying priorities are some of the challenges that would come up in developing a uniform communication module. A possible way out from this difficulty would be to develop state-level and regional level modules before integrating them into a national module. The module should focus its attention on three areas; the government policymakers, the financial institutions and the media.
The MSME sector in the country, on a path to recovery following the uncertainties created by demonetization and introduction of GST, has been plunged to the crisis in the wake of the lockdown on account of COVID-19. The current financial year ending March 31, 2021, is going to be a very difficult period for the MSME sector along with other sectors of the economy. But we all know that every downtrend in the economy is followed by a recovery and I am fully confident that the Indian economy is poised for a strong rebound after the recovery from the pandemic. The MSME sector is going to play a key role in the rebound of the economy. The challenge before the MSME sector is to prepare a proper PR and Communication module that would help the sector to derive the maximum advantage at the time of an economic recovery.